More than 100,000 people have fled Sudan's embattled Kordofan since October, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as fighting escalates across the vast southern region.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced over 11 million and triggered what the UN describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Data from the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday showed that an estimated 115,223 people were displaced from Kordofan between 25 October and 5 February.
The surge followed more than 80 violent incidents recorded across North, South and West Kordofan states, the UN agency said.
The exodus from the southern region came after the RSF shifted its focus there, following its takeover of El-Fasher - the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the neighbouring Darfur region - in October.
The capture of El-Fasher, which forced at least 127,000 people to flee, was accompanied by reports of mass killings, rape, abductions and widespread looting.
The UN has repeatedly warned that similar atrocities could unfold in Kordofan, which has now emerged as a key battleground in the wider war.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Monday that nearly 100 civilians were killed and 142 injured in drone strikes in Kordofan in the two weeks leading up to 6 February.
He said strikes by both warring parties hit targets including a World Food Programme convoy, markets, health facilities and residential areas across North and South Kordofan.
Kordofan is strategically located between RSF-controlled Darfur to the west and the army-held Nile Valley to the east, north and centre - a position that has left it increasingly exposed as both sides vie for control.